Board considers advertising idea

Folding chairs used by athletic teams on the sidelines in the new Brady school gymnasium have caused scratches in the finish of the floor.

School officials have considered some options including a rubberized mat under the seats or new non-scratch chairs.

Finding the money for either in an already tight budget came into question last month when the school board first discussed the floor mat.

At Monday night’s school board meeting, a proposal from outside the district to purchase chairs turned to a discussion of commercialization.

Through company representative Bryan Franzen of Brady, Dekalb has offered to spend $2,000 to purchase 30 gymnasium chairs for the district with the stipulation that a corporate logo be prominently displayed on the chairs for the next four years.

The logo would be on a fabric slip cover, making it removable after the contract period.

Beyond the four years, the company would pay $500 annually to continue to have its logo displayed on the chairs.

Superintendent Bill Porter told board members he is not sold on the idea.

“I don’t believe in commercialization in a public school,” he said.

But board members brought up other areas where businesses have purchased items such as scoreboards and calendars.

Companies have partially sponsored events at the school through monetary donations as well.

“I don’t want to go out and seek purchases from people after we’ve already hit them hard with taxes,” Porter said.

On the other hand, he admitted, this donation for chairs was not solicited.

“It’s a fine line,” he said. “If other people want to buy things in the future, I think you as a board will have to take that under heavy consideration.”

The topic was only a discussion item on this month’s agenda and will have to be considered as an action item in the future.

In other business, the school board voted to spend $27,766 in government stimulus funds to purchase one Smart Board and 18 MacBook Pro laptop computers with accessories.

The laptops will replace high school teacher computers and are the same model intended for students as the school moves toward a one-to-one computer initiative.

Porter said the district will continue to use grant funds to put the hardware in place for the one-to-one but the district must consider an approximate cost of $50,000 for maintenance.

He said the goal is to have computers for all high school students next fall.

School board members also:

heard plans from the board’s activities committee for conference and district banners to be placed in the gymnasium. The committee also proposed creating a hall of fame by moving all trophy cases to the east hall outside the gym and adding more displays.

voted to pay the November bus fuel bill at the Brady Get-N-Go in increments throughout the month of November rather than waiting for a monthly billing.

authorized payment of $29,836 to ALICAP for property, vehicle, liability and workmans compensation insurance for the 2009-10 school year.

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